Bathing before Clipping

[scats]

I don’t bath before clipping, but Millie has generally worn a lightweight rug for a few weeks by that point so isn’t too grubby.
Get my blades sharpened at the end of every winter. The bloke who does my dog blades a few times a year does them for me.

 

[Dave's Mam]

Hot clothing & Shapleys Easy Out make for a good pre clip wash.

Edit Shapleys isn't cheap, but current bottle is 3 years in & looks to have the same left.

 

[HorseMaid]

My friend and I bathed ours the day before clipping the other day. We haven't got mains water so it was a buckets and sponges job, took ages. They also live out so we then rugged them up (wet!) and turned them back out, they were dry and clean the next day.

It's my own clippers, they're "light" (or medium?) duty and cope better on clean hair, someone borrowed an old pair once and killed the motor trying to go through her cob's greasy bum hair.

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

I bath with hot water and hibiscrub and fairy liquid. I usually pick a clear dry day to do the bathing then clip the next day. Makes such a difference to the clip.

 

[millitiger]

I don't bath but I do hot cloth before clipping.

So far though, my horses have all had fluffy and soft/silky coats rather than heavy or greasy.

I now have a Welsh though and I expect he might need a bath before clipping when we get to that stage, as his coat is quite different!

 

[Julia0803]

I have the hairiest yak x cob imaginable and he runs hot to boot. He is clipped all year round , usually every 4 weeks (How regularly depends on how much work he is in, whether he needs to be completely scalped or not/ whether the coat is actively growing).

For the last 2 months or so, he's been clipped at least every 2/3 weeks with coarse 4.5mm blades so that he could still go out without a rug overnight, and I didn't have to worry if we had a bit of rain. It is surprising/horrifying just how much coat he is growing even within 2 weeks. It was a pain in the bum to have to do it so regularly, but the best solution I could come up with when it was mid 20s in the afternoon when turned out, but down to 6/7c in the morning when he was coming in.

However, this week, now the weather has turned and he's in a rug, he'll be clipped with fine blades. We have our last endurance ride of the season on Sunday and I don't want him to overheat/struggle getting his HR down.

When he's clipped in summer/when it's not too freezing, I bath him beforehand. It does make it significantly easier. This time, he'll be hot clothed. It's too cold to do a regular bath and as his coat is probably 5/6mm long, I can get a decent amount of grease and muck out by hot clothing. (It's always the top of his bum that gets disgustingly greasy).

Interestingly I previously had the old style master clip blades and I needed to sharpen them every single clip pretty much, I'd maybe get two clips in the summer or if he was only having an Irish or similar. However, this year I treated myself to an upgrade and the more recent master clip clippers use the lister blades. They are much longer lasting in terms of sharpness than the old style. I got several full clips out of one set before I needed to send them off. I don't know if it's a fluke or maybe I had an unknown issue with my old clippers (I had multiple sets of blades so not down to a dodgy set), but it is certainly really noticeable.

 

[Gallop_Away]

I don't bath but I do hot cloth before clipping.

So far though, my horses have all had fluffy and soft/silky coats rather than heavy or greasy.

I now have a Welsh though and I expect he might need a bath before clipping when we get to that stage, as his coat is quite different!

My two welshies are like yetis by mid September. Doesn't matter how early I rug, their natural winter coats come through thick and fluffy. So it is far easier to bath them before the first clip.

Our standardbred on the other hand keeps a tight coat all year round and a good brushing easily removes the dirt from his coat for the blades to glide through.

So it very much depends on the breed in terms of coat thickness and textures.

 

[Widgeon]

I don’t bath before clipping, but Millie has generally worn a lightweight rug for a few weeks by that point so isn’t too grubby.

Same, no bath but a lightweight TO is usually on to keep the dirt off, so he's not too bad and a good groom will do. If he wasn't rugged I'd have to bath or I think the clippers would probably catch fire

 

[Polos Mum]

We have the new joy of hot water from the boiler onto a hosepipe in the yard I can use ! I bathed him properly in warm water before last clip and it took half the time, glided through and looked much neater afterwards.

I'm a one horse clipper so not usually super neat and a horse / polar bear coat thickness.

I have never bathed before (always dry and good groom) I will now bath, rug to dry and if needed clip first thing in the morning when fully dry

 

[monte1]

I always bath if i can, unless it is very cold out, otherwise I will hot cloth all over, (I use a squirt of Dettol and baby oil in the water ) it makes a real difference to clipping results and stops the blades blunting so fast
I also do a quick hot cloth all over afterwards to help lift off all the little bits of hair on the skin.

I only clip one at the moment, but do about 4-5 clips over winter

 

[meleeka]

I have a mini shetland and there’s no way I’d be able to bath him in this weather. It would take days to dry. Nor can I get a brush right in his deep coat. I just clip the way the hair lies to shorten in, then give him a good brush and a wipe over with a cloth, before I clip properly.

 

[The Xmas Furry]

I have a mini shetland and there’s no way I’d be able to bath him in this weather. It would take days to dry. Nor can I get a brush right in his deep coat. I just clip the way the hair lies to shorten in, then give him a good brush and a wipe over with a cloth, before I clip properly.

Aha! My mini gets her 1st winter clip around August bank hol weekend - gullet bib and tum. No rugs ever, she's like a yak!
This gets repeated about every 3 weeks till late January or even mid Feb, friends get their teens to do her as practice - as she is so good at standing around.
I find if you start early, the clippers have a good chance of getting through it and by repeating so often, its easier and quick to do.

 

[Julia0803]

Aha! My mini gets her 1st winter clip around August bank hol weekend - gullet bib and tum. No rugs ever, she's like a yak!
This gets repeated about every 3 weeks till late January or even mid Feb, friends get their teens to do her as practice - as she is so good at standing around.
I find if you start early, the clippers have a good chance of getting through it and by repeating so often, its easier and quick to do.

It's a really good point about starting early! One year, when he had been box rested due to injury and then inland and ridden walking from the stable in autumn early winter we didn't clip. However, come late January he had started his trot work part of the rehab and was getting too hot. It was a blooming nightmare trying to clip him.

He was like a polar bear and the clippers could not get through! We had to get the bulk off the best we could, he looked like he'd been chewed up and spat out by a lawn mower and went through two sets of new blades and we'd been at it for over 2 hours. We then had to try and degrease him with multiple hot clothing etc before trying to neaten him up a fortnight later.

I will never make that mistake again!

 

[Fransurrey]

I bathe for summer clips, so from now it's a case of going over previous clips. I do a mini bath of just the areas being clipped and towel dry, then rug overnight for a clip the next day. I just can't get away with grooming only, as he's quite a greasy horse. If I clip every 4 weeks, hot cloth is fine, but currently his clip (5 weeks in) is over a cm already, so mini-bath for him this week (I do an Irish including the whole belly to his bits).

 

[Nasicus]

A brush if out needed and then clip, but it's my own clippers (Well, trimmers now, Liveryman Nova).
Pony is mercifully soft coated for a cob, so I'm not going through a greasy cob coat anymore, but used to when I had several greasy cobs and a pair of Lister Libertys.

If it were someone else clipping, or someone else's clippers, then yes 100% thorough bathing, as much of a pain in the backside it would be for me to do so in a way that isn't unpleasant for Pony in cold weather. It's one thing to bugger my own clippers, wouldn't do it to someone elses.

 

[Love]

Personally yes the day before, especially for the first clip of the year when he is fluffiest. Much much easier on the clippers and is also nicer for the horse as it will prevent the blades from snagging and pulling. With a second clip I can sometimes get away with a hot cloth as others have said but prefer to bath if I can. A good fleece and a walk out in hand helps to dry them off

 

[MuddyMonster]

Hot clothing & Shapleys Easy Out make for a good pre clip wash.

Edit Shapleys isn't cheap, but current bottle is 3 years in & looks to have the same left.

This stuff?

https://polishedponies.co.uk/products/shapleys-easy-out-no-rinse-shampoo-8oz-32oz

I'd never heard of it before but it looks ideal - not just for clipping but general dirty pony-ness over winter for clinics and other occasions we need to look less dragged through a hedge backwards

 

[NinjaPony]

I don’t bathe for winter clips because my Welsh has such a thick fluffy coat that he would never dry and it’s too cold for him to be stood out wet for hours. I do give him a good brush and spray lots of coat shine on for a few days before. I bathe for summer clips. I get my blades sharpened and my clippers serviced after the winter clips. Not ideal but I’m only clipping for practicality and luckily he’s only 11hh so the blades always manage at least one clip.

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

Oh and as an afterthought: Ladies!! Always take your bra off before clipping. Those little bl**dy hairs get stuck in there for months and they itch like bu****y!

Yes they bloody well do! And like the other year the odd one gets stuck in your nipple! That was a painful 4 days along with not being able to turn to the right...

 

[Parrotperson]

Yes they bloody well do! And like the other year the odd one gets stuck in your nipple! That was a painful 4 days along with not being able to turn to the right...

I feel you pain elf!! It’s so****g horrible. Took me a while to work out ‘take the bl**dy bra off’ but was a revaluation!!

 

[scats]

Oh and as an afterthought: Ladies!! Always take your bra off before clipping. Those little bl**dy hairs get stuck in there for months and they itch like bu****y!

I’m a dog groomer. Every bra I own is held together by hair.

 

[Parrotperson]

I’m a dog groomer. Every bra I own is held together by hair.

 

[Dave's Mam]

This stuff?

https://polishedponies.co.uk/products/shapleys-easy-out-no-rinse-shampoo-8oz-32oz

I'd never heard of it before but it looks ideal - not just for clipping but general dirty pony-ness over winter for clinics and other occasions we need to look less dragged through a hedge backwards

Yes, that's the one.

 

[Dazzer]

I've never heard of needing to bath before clipping. My cob has a super thick coat and he'd never dry if I bathed him now. I can't put a sheet or rug on him either as he'll sweat. I will just have to groom as much as I can and hope he'll be ok to clip!

 

[Boulty]

I’ve never bathed before clipping and will admit I’ve never been on a yard where it’s the culture to do so. Obvs the bit you want to clip should be dry & brushed but that’s as far as I’ve ever gone!

 

[Dave's Mam]

It's not so much a culture, but gritty dirty coats blunt clippers & if your grubby horse breaks someone's else's clippers & affects their earing, then I can see the issue.

 

[Dave's Mam]

*earning

 

[Gallop_Away]

It's not so much a culture, but gritty dirty coats blunt clippers & if your grubby horse breaks someone's else's clippers & affects their earing, then I can see the issue.

Not to mention it cannot be pleasant for the horse as dirt in the coat can snag on the blades.

 

[peanutsmumma]

I always bath if i can, unless it is very cold out, otherwise I will hot cloth all over, (I use a squirt of Dettol and baby oil in the water ) it makes a real difference to clipping results and stops the blades blunting so fast
I also do a quick hot cloth all over afterwards to help lift off all the little bits of hair on the skin.

I only clip one at the moment, but do about 4-5 clips over winter

Do you hot cloth so the coat is 'wet' and then let them dry or just enough to lift the dirt?